Life and politics from the Sunshine State's best city

Jose Bautista

Tim Beckham homered twice in a game for the second time in eight days, driving in four runs to lead the Tampa Bay Rays over the Miami Marlins 5-1 on Thursday night. Matt Andriese (2-1) scattered five hits, walked three and struck out eight over seven innings to match his longest outing this season. Dee Gordon hit a run-scoring single off Chih-Wei Hu in the ninth before Alex Colome got the final out for his eighth save. The Rays won…

An abbreviated outing by Aaron Sanchez left the Blue Jays bullpen with plenty of work to do. Toronto’s relievers handled the task in style. Russell Martin hit a go-ahead single during a three-run rally in the eighth inning and the Blue Jays posted back-to-back wins for the first time this season, beating the Tampa Bay Rays 3-1 Sunday. The Blue Jays started the day with a 7-17 record, the worst in the majors. A loss would’ve left them with the…

Hall of Famer Joe Morgan knows that for more than a century, baseball players have policed themselves. Like it or not. Seven months after Jose Bautista‘s famous bat flip against Texas in the AL playoffs, he got hit by the Rangers and responded with a hard takeout slide that led to a brawl Sunday. “If you were willing to show the other team up and to do that, then you’ve got to be willing to take what goes with it,”…

Now that the regular season is over, baseball heads to the playoffs. The Rays and 19 other teams will watch on television and focus on joining the party next fall. Fans of strong hitting will have more fun watching the American League. As the Rays know well, all five playoff teams are among the top six hitting clubs. Houston, Kansas City and Toronto are in the top five overall while the New York Yankees are in the middle of the pack and Texas…